Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have significantly improved outcomes for patients with cancer. However, these therapies are associated with adverse events including de novo immune-related adverse events or flare of pre-exiting autoimmune disorders. Up to 80% of patients with cancer and pre-existing psoriasis (PsO) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) experience PsO/PsA flare after initiating ICIs. Targeting the interleukin (IL)-17/IL-23 axis is a mainstream of the PsO/PsA treatment. However, whether this treatment can effectively control PsO/PsA with ICI exposure while preserving anti-tumour efficacy remains unknown.
Case reports: We report three patients with PsA and cancer, who received ICIs for their cancer treatment. All patients were male. Two patients had clear cell renal cell carcinoma, and one had melanoma. Two patients received anti-PD-1 antibody monotherapy, while one patient received combined anti-CTLA-4 and PD-1 antibody therapy. One patient had been receiving anti-IL-17A antibody (secukinumab), while the other two patients started anti-IL-17A antibody (ixekizumab) and anti-IL-23 antibody (guselkumab) after their PsA flared up during ICI treatment. Of note, with the anti-IL-17A or anti-IL-23 antibody treatment, their PsA remained in remission, and they well tolerated the ICI therapy. Importantly, all three patients showed persistent tumour responses to ICI therapy, including two complete remissions and one stable disease, respectively.
Conclusions: These three cases suggest that targeting the IL-17/23 axis may be an effective and safe approach for patients with cancer and pre-existing PsA being considered for ICI therapy.
Objectives: The association between immune-mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) and Sjögren disease (SjD) has been poorly investigated. This study presents the first retrospective cohort of iTTP-SjD aiming to identify risk factors for iTTP occurrence in SjD patients and examine their clinical course.
Methods: Patients with iTTP-SjD were identified within the French TTP Registry based on American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism 2016 criteria. A comparative analysis was conducted with two control groups comprising primary SjD (pSjD) patients from the French ASSESS cohort and idiopathic iTTP patients from the French TTP Registry. Demographic, clinical and biological data were retrospectively collected.
Results: Thirty iTTP-SjD patients were included and compared with 65 pSjD and 45 idiopathic iTTP patients. The majority of iTTP-SjD patients (n=18) were diagnosed with SjD at the time of iTTP diagnosis. In comparison with the pSjD cohort, iTTP-SjD patients were diagnosed with SjD at a younger age (p=0.039) and showed a higher prevalence of anti-SjS-related antigen A antibody positivity and xerostomia (p=0.015, p=0.035, respectively). EULAR Sjogren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index showed similar activity levels between the two groups. iTTP-SjD patients were treated with plasma exchange (n=28), corticosteroids, rituximab (n=19) and caplacizumab (n=3). In comparison with the idiopathic iTTP cohort, mortality rates (log-rank tests, p=0.228), biological and clinical iTTP relapses (multivariate analysis, p=0.181) were comparable and short-term outcomes (survival at day 30, relapse) were favourable.
Conclusion: iTTP can be a rare complication in patients with SjD. Further studies involving larger cohorts and long-term follow-up are warranted to confirm these findings and to explore the efficacy of immunomodulators and caplacizumab in iTTP-SjD patients.
Introduction: This post hoc analysis evaluated the relationship between objective measures of inflammation and clinical outcomes following 12 weeks of certolizumab pegol (CZP) treatment in patients with active axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA).
Methods: We report the proportion of patients achieving ≥50% and ≥75% improvements in clinical composite outcome measures of disease activity (Axial Spondyloarthritis Disease Activity Score [ASDAS], Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index [BASDAI]) and objective measures of inflammation (C reactive protein [CRP], Ankylosing Spondylitis spine MRI score [ASspiMRI-a] Berlin score and Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada [SPARCC] MRI Sacroiliac Joints [SIJ] score) following 12 weeks of CZP treatment. Data from two independent readers over four MRI reading campaigns were pooled using a mixed model with repeated measures for each variable.
Results: 136 patients (radiographic axSpA [r-axSpA]: 76; non-radiographic axSpA [nr-axSpA]: 60) were included. Following CZP treatment, CRP, ASspiMRI-a Berlin score and SPARCC SIJ score were reduced by ≥50% in most patients (CRP: 136/136 [100.0%]; Berlin: 73/136 [53.7%]; SPARCC SIJ: 71/136 [52.2%]), and often by ≥75%. Less than half of patients with r-axSpA and nr-axSpA showed ≥50% reduction in clinical responses (BASDAI: 64/136 [47.1%]; ASDAS: 66/136 [48.5%]). These results were also observed at the individual patient level; ≥50% improvements in MRI/CRP inflammatory measures did not translate into similar improvements in clinical responses for most patients.
Conclusion: There is a potential disconnect between objective measures of inflammation and clinical outcome responses in patients with axSpA. The use of only clinical response measures as trial endpoints may underestimate anti-inflammatory treatment effects.
Trial registration number: NCT01087762.
Objective: Previous technical limitations prevented the proof of Fcγ-receptor (FcγR)-activation by soluble immune complexes (sICs) in patients. FcγRIIIa (CD16) is a risk factor in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We aimed at determining the presence of CD16-activating sICs in RA and control diseases.
Methods: Sera from an exploratory cohort (n=50 patients with RA) and a validation cohort (n=106 patients with RA, 20 patients with psoriasis arthritis (PsA), 22 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 31 healthy controls) were analysed using a new reporter cell assay. Additionally, 26 synovial fluid samples were analysed, including paired serum/synovial samples.
Results: For the first time using a reliable and sensitive functional assay, the presence of sICs in RA sera was confirmed. sICs possess an intrinsic capacity to activate CD16 and can be found in both synovial fluid and in blood. In low experimental dilutions, circulating sICs were also detected in a subset of healthy people and in PsA. However, we report a significantly increased frequency of bioactive circulating sICs in RA. While the bioactivity of circulating sICs was low and did not correlate with clinical parameters, synovial sICs were highly bioactive and correlated with serum autoantibody levels. Receiver operator curves indicated that sICs bioactivity in synovial fluid could be used to discriminate immune complex-associated arthritis from non-associated forms. Finally, circulating sICs were more frequently found in SLE than in RA. The degree of CD16 bioactivity showed strong donor-dependent differences, especially in SLE.
Conclusions: RA is characterised by the presence of circulating and synovial sICs that can engage and activate CD16.
Introduction: The therapeutic interest of targeting B-cell activating factor (BAFF) in Sjögren's disease (SjD) can be suspected from the results of two phase II clinical trials but has not been evaluated in an animal model of the disease. We aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of this strategy on dryness and salivary gland (SG) infiltrates in the NOD mouse model of SjD.
Material and methods: Female NOD mice between ages 10 and 18 weeks were treated with a BAFF-blocking monoclonal antibody, Sandy-2 or an isotype control. Dryness was measured by the stimulated salivary flow. Salivary lymphocytic infiltrates were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Blood, SGs, spleen and lymph-node lymphocyte subpopulations were analysed by flow cytometry. SG mRNA expression was analysed by transcriptomic analysis.
Results: BAFF inhibition significantly decreased SG lymphocytic infiltrates, which was inversely correlated with salivary flow. The treatment markedly decreased B-cell number in SGs, blood, lymph nodes and spleen and increased Foxp3+ regulatory and CD3+CD4-CD8- double negative T-cell numbers in SGs.
Conclusion: A monoclonal antibody blocking BAFF and depleting B cells had therapeutic effectiveness in the NOD mouse model of SjD. The increase in regulatory T-lymphocyte populations might underlie the efficacy of this treatment.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy profiles of ozoralizumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from the OHZORA, NATSUZORA and HOSHIZORA trials.
Methods: This study conducted an integrated analysis of the three trials. Patients who completed the OHZORA trial with concomitant treatment of ozoralizumab and methotrexate (MTX) or the NATSUZORA trial without MTX were eligible to participate in the long-term extension HOSHIZORA trial. Safety assessment was performed in the safety analysis set, and the incidence rate per 100 person-year (PY) was calculated for a summary of adverse events (AEs) and AEs of special interests (AESIs). The efficacy was analysed in terms of disease activity index response rates and functional remission.
Results: The OHZORA and NATSUZORA trials enrolled 521 patients, of whom 401 patients entered the HOSHIZORA trial and 279 completed the long-term extension treatment with a mean treatment duration of 200 weeks and total exposure of 1419.34 PY in all enrolled patients. Of the patients, 96.9% demonstrated ≥1 AEs, which is mostly mild to moderate. One death was observed, but no conspicuous AEs emerged and no specific concerns in AESIs were found through the long-term administration. The efficacy assessment revealed the maintained American College of Rheumatology response rates of 20%, 50%, and 70% during the trials.
Conclusion: This integrated analysis revealed no new safety concerns, and the efficacy was maintained in patients with RA under long-term ozoralizumab administration.
Trial registration number: jRCT2080223971, jRCT2080223973, NCT04077567.
Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can regulate gene expression, controlling numerous cellular processes. Dysregulation of miRNA function is linked to various diseases, making them attractive diagnostic and therapeutic targets. Examples include hsa-miR-92a-3p, hsa-miR-126-3p, hsa-miR-143-3p, hsa-miR-145-5p and hsa-miR-204-5p, which are associated with endothelial function. Their prevalence in Sjögren's disease (SjD) is unknown. We assessed the prevalence of these miRNAs in serum of patients with SjD, correlating levels with cardiovascular risk factors and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) to evaluate their utility in risk stratification.
Methods: 199 patients with SjD and 100 age and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) were included in the study. Five different miRNAs (hsa-miR-92a-3p; hsa-miR-126-3p; hsa-miR143-3p; hsa-miR-145-5p; hsa-miR-204-5p) were analysed by quantitative real-time PCR. The miRNA results were compared with known clinical and disease-related parameters.
Results: Four miRNAs showed significantly different expressions compared with HC. MiR-92a-3p was upregulated (p=0.025) and miR-126-3p (p=0.044), miR-143-3p (p=0.006) and miR-204-5p (p=0.009) downregulated in SjD compared with HC. The comparison between HC and SjD with/without organ involvement revealed descriptively increased miR-92a-3p levels in patients with SjD with organ involvement (p=0.087). Furthermore, miR-92a-3p levels correlated positively with cIMT as an expression of subclinical atherosclerosis (r=0.148, p=0.04).
Conclusion: In conclusion, patients with SjD demonstrated differences in their expression of miRNAs linked to regulation of endothelial function. Reduction of specific miRNAs was associated with increased cardiovascular risk, suggesting a potentially protective role for these miRNAs. Furthermore, miR-92a-3p could be helpful for molecular detection of early-stage atherosclerosis and increased cardiovascular risk in SjD.